/* Hey guys. Again thanks for reading this far. These next two are the last two chapters of the book: Clasma. Hope you enjoy! */
-Infiltration—
The plan was laid out, step-by-step. Every scenario they could think of had been accounted for. The worst case outcomes factored in. O-Ren envisioned the operation in its entirety. He even indicated when they would probably get into trouble, and what would happen:
First, we sneak through the sewers, like Bolin said. Korra is gonna do her magic thing and take out the sentinels, making sure they don't report back to the big man, Graft. So once we get to the sewers, we will head up through the maintenance plant and come up somewhere in the basements underneath Solomon Solutions.
There we see the guards, and we put on our little act, saying that little Bolin had gathered a little tactical team to rescue his girl. Totally believable. If we need to, we can have Korra hiding in the shadows while we sweet talk the guards, and when things take too long Korra can just take them out with her swords. You say she is a quick girl so I want to see what she's got! Once we get to the main hall of the building we probably can't pull the prisoner trick any longer. That is when we got to step up our game. The guards will undoubtedly detect us. Not only do we got Korra to take out any snipers on the upper floors, we also got surprise: these guards don't realize they are dealing with the most deadliest and most angry members of Republic City. Asami's got her sharpshooting to help Korra take out the long-range shots, and she has her electric glove for close range. Mako can clear out groups of them with his firebending, and Bolin you can use the cinderblocks in the walls to do the same. Lin's has her beast swordfighting skills for close range, and she's gotten pretty damn good with her mechanical grappling hook so she can get around the place just fine.
We do our best to make our way up. Graft probably sits on the top floors. Any of those drones show up, and Korra can do her cosmic energy tricks to take them out. I doubt Graft will be expecting that, or any of this. Then he is all ours.
Korra was wary to try to bend the energy within the drones again. Last time was not the most pleasant experience. She had gone ahead of the group and stood at the sewer tunnel that deposited into the channel. She felt nothing deep within the tunnel. No guards or any sign of life. The energy patterns flowing through her were calmed. Almost more than usual. She waited for her team, and they delved into the dark tunnels, the only light source coming from Mako's flame that he could barely keep. The injury he had sustained from the incident in the alley probably screwed up his firebending a little.
"Bolin, you sure you know where you are going? This tunnel is going forever and you tend to forget things," Mako said. They walked through the dark sewers, a smell of death sticking to the walls.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I know exactly how to get there, and I'll walk up to Graft and show him I'm not just some little kid. I'm not someone he can just push around. Not this Bolin. Not anymore."
Bolin's anger scared Mako. This was not his brother. The darkness in Republic City, it had warped him. Mako hoped that Bolin's mission was to save Sydney's life, not to get revenge on Graft.
Korra walked ahead in case she was wrong and there were scouts scanning the area. But there were none. Suddenly, a bright light flashed and lit the whole tunnel. Korra squinted as if a beam shined directly into her eyes. She thought it had been Mako blasting his fire, but in an instant, the light disappeared. She had seen the entire tunnel in the split-second it was illuminated.
"Did anyone else see that?" she asked. The others stopped abruptly.
"See what? It's so damn dark. You're basically our eyes and ears," O-Ren said.
They hadn't seen it? "It was bright for a second, wasn't it?" They exchanged glances of confusion and just referred to Mako's pathetic flame.
Korra shook it off, just a hallucination, but then it happened again. This time she saw the end of the tunnel. The tunnel stopped at metal bars. Next to these bars there was a platform. Korra swore she saw a silhouette standing on this platform. Everything became dark, but her eyes were hurt. It switched back to black almost as if it had never been lit. Korra did not know what was happening.
It happened one last time, and Korra thought she was going to pass out. It wasn't being lit; she was seeing through the darkness. Somehow her eyes were going into overdrive in brief spurts, reacting to an entity in the tunnel with her, and even in pitch black she could see everything. What stood at the end of the hallways was a person. The sensation remained a few seconds longer. It was a man. He stood in the water. He looked taller than a normal person, but that may have been Korra's mind playing tricks on her. She saw him rise and almost touch the ceiling. His long slender body with his arms hanging down and coiling on the ground. She heard his breath and the sploshing of the water as he moved. He looked unreal…
"I hear water flowing up ahead," Bolin said. "That must be the junction. Sydney said there is a platform with a door that leads to some waste-management room. It leads to a garage under the building."
Korra couldn't speak. Her voice was clenched by something. She tried to yell. The thing was still there. It had to be. And she was walking right at it. She could no longer see. She put her hands in front of her, shaking with fear as any moment they would come into contact with the monster she saw.
But she felt cold metal bars. She had reached the end.
"C'mon, Korra. It's this way. Let's hurry."
They walked through several machines filtering out the waste and up flights of stairs to find themselves in an old garage.
"I'd suit up if I were you guys," Mako said to O-Ren and Lin. They put their masks on. The garage was empty. The road had a section that was tiled, and did not look like a car had driven on it in forever. There weren't even any cars. The road led to a cinderblock wall.
"There isn't even a way out. How does anyone get into this garage?" Asami asked.
Korra began to hear sounds around her. People talking. There were doors lining the walls which were locked. They figured them to be maintenance rooms, but she realized what they were.
"These are prison cells. I can still hear people screaming. Their energy continues to flow through here."
"For goodness sakes, are any here now?" Lin screamed.
"No. They are all gone. All of them…" Korra was no longer speaking of only the prisoners. Bolin raced to each cell and looked in for Sydney, but there was no sign of life anywhere, and this pattern continued when they entered the actual facility itself.
"Let's do this, team," O-Ren said as he veiled his face. Read for battle. Ready to give everything he had.
They had the whole operation thought out. They walked through the doors into the main building.
They soon realized their sophisticated plan had lost its purpose. The facility was empty. Silence saturated the room. More silence than normal. Not even the hum of a radiator or the subtle sounds of the building moving. No footsteps. No voices. Abandoned.
They walked out into the main hall. The front door was sealed shut. A piece of metal crudely smeared across it. Papers on the front desk were scattered as if someone had just been there. No one was in sight. They stood in the main hall, confused, anticipating the surprise attack from the drones. They drew their weapons, except for Korra.
"There isn't anyone around us. It's barren," she said.
"This definitely isn't right," Lin said. At the center of this hall was this desk, and on either side of the room were two staircases. The ceiling of the main hall was above the third level. No one appeared to be here. The group ascended and found more evidence of some kind of struggle.
The sound of breathing was all that echoed off the walls.
At the top of the stairs, on a small table, there was a dead body. His hands had been folded around his chest. It was very formal looking. It was not like someone coldly murdered the man and left him to die. They made a nice presentation out of it. No blood. No evidence of a struggle. The man just lied there. His eyes closed. Peaceful. They approached the body and read the name.
Sen.
The team was unsure how to react to this sight. They reached an elevator. The doors were open, waiting for them.
"I feel very different about this. Has someone else beat us here? Is Graft even up there?" Mako said.
Bolin got angry, "Well, there is only one way to find out." He stepped into the elevator and waited. "Well you coming or not?"
Asami was confused. "This is such a huge building. Isn't weird that not one person is calling for the elevator? Does that mean everyone on every floor…"
"Look!" Bolin yelled, "I don't know what this is all about, but we aren't going to solve anything by just standing around talking. We go up and we face him. If he's not there we track him down. But he will be there."
"He is right," Korra said. She was sweating. "Graft is here. He is upstairs, but there is something else upstairs too. I can really feel it. What cosmic energy is being emitted from it, it's disrupting everything around it. I can't get a clear understanding of anything. It's completely interfering with everything."
"Well what's that mean?" O-Ren asked.
"It can mean a lot of things. It can mean someone so jacked up on Clasma, but…" Korra had felt this energy before. It was so powerful. She had never sensed it in the real world. She almost thought it belonged to a spirit.
"Well," Mako said. "I guess we are just going to have to see for ourselves. We are here after all." He walked to the elevator and joined Bolin. Korra looked up as the rest of the team followed.
What is that?
They shot up to the top floor of the building, sixty stories high. The elevator doors slid open and the team was staring into the glowing, red eyes of two drones. Team Avatar drew their weapons and ran for the drones but they were stopped instantly. Their bodies began to contort in ways they couldn't control. They unwillingly got to their knees and dropped their weapons.
"It's a new one I am testing!" A voice said. "Not too long ago we managed to excavate the bodies of Noatak and Tarlokk. Such powerful waterbenders they were, much more powerful than their father, Yakone. Oh but you know that," Graft said, pointing to Bolin. "You met her. She could barely even waterbend let alone bloodbend. Of course, I combined Yakone's Clasma with several others' Clasma hoping it would work. Not the greatest results from the Shiva Experiment. However, the Amon Project was a huge success. Just look at these two drones, they have gained control over you two with ease."
The team struggled against the powerful grip of the drone's bloodbending. The room they were in was an enormous lab. Around them were several chambers behind bulletproof glass. Two of these chambers contained Tenzin and Sydney.
Bolin struggled to speak, "You…argh, bastard! You…realize…what you are doing! You've taken away the life…"
"Don't push yourself, my boy. You're speaking to a man whose soul and sense of morality is too forgone. It is but the dust of grinded bones now, forever to be forgotten," he let out a psychotic laugh. "Where do I come up with these things?"
"Graft!" Lin yelled, "Your time is up! We, argh, we are here to stop you."
"Well you didn't really do a good job of that. You've failed before you've even reached me. But, it's not like I was surprised that you'd come here. In fact, you could say I've known for years now." He walked back and forth in front of them until he stopped in front of Asami.
"Wow, Asami. I knew it would happen, but still. The shock value is off the charts. You're actually here, the businesswomen gone bankrupt, come to claim her riches. By doing what, killing your competitor?"
"You're not a competitor, rrg, you're a tyrant."
"Hm, maybe to you, but imagine the monster this city will think you to be! Asami, the one who, in her darkest hour, lost her mind and sought to kill the man who put her out of business. The woman who is against freedom of the marketplace. Against fair competition, who will cross the boundary lines and even commit acts of terrorism to promote Future Industries."
"Future Industries is dead, you made…sure of that," Asami managed to say in grunts. "I'm not here for that. I'm here to…stop what you're…doing."
"Is that true? Or are you here for revenge? Are you all here for revenge? To gain your power back? Sure, you had your qualms with me since I've been here. Many people do, but no one in this city is willing to come down here and face me directly. You were not willing either until I took something from you, or you realized what I had already taken," Graft said, looking at Mako, then to Lin. He walked over to her. "You know, I have yet to find an airbender's Clasma to work with. I think Tenzin will do just fine."
"You will not lay a hand on him!" Lin yelled. Graft smiled.
"It is interesting what you can make a human do. It is interesting that you can carefully place just the right objects in front of a human and it will mold their mind a certain way. That I've made you come here believing you have some morally righteous cause when truly all you want is your own vengeance. However, I am not upset about this. I am thrilled! It means my whole experiment was a success. It means I am practically a god!"
"What…experiment?" Mako asked.
"You're here because I've brought you here! Have you wondered over these last few months how each of you has been personally affected by me in different ways? I've orchestrated these specific events to happen in order to coax each of you here, and it has nearly gone according to plan. I've laid out the obstacles in just the perfect way so that only you few people would be driven enough to come here and face me today. I've been planning this exact morning for years now, ever since the day my rogue experiment killed the parents of…you brothers," Graft said, looking to Bolin and Mako. Bolin looked confusingly at Mako, who was staring at the ground. "It was my first drone. All those years ago. My first human made into a powerful bending weapon. It went wrong. I refused to believe it was a failure. It could earthbend and firebend. It was a miraculous product. But somehow the concept of justice had become distorted to this drone. It acted somewhat autonomously, and by its twisted views of obedience to the law murdered the man who had yet to pay an overdue ticket. Your father died at the hands of this drone because it had no way to measure the degree to which a man was a criminal, and death was its only course of action. Maybe in a different life, I would be saddened by this mistake, like Solomon was, and quit, but that is not who I am. I knew what I was doing was important for society and I coulnd't let a small setback stop me."
"A small setback!? argh," Mako yelled angrily.
"Mako, in the grand scheme of things, the lives of two people meant nothing to me. I had an important mission, but I knew that there were people like you. That you wouldn't let that day out of your mind, and you would one day find out that it was I who was responsible for the assassin who killed your parents. I knew what kind of person you were. I knew that one single day would be the ultimate mistake setting a series of events into motion ending with you wanting my blood, and seeking to end my beautiful project. I knew that you and your friends would here. Here to kill me. And I knew I couldn't let this day come true. Not the way you intended it to go. I needed to prepare for it. I knew it was inevitable you found out, so I planned your entrance. I calculated every step and knew the time exactly that you would be stepping off that elevator. And I was right. I was able to perfectly manipulate the human mind to do exactly what I wanted it to and when as well. Since the day I made that mistake of releasing that rogue experiment, I've had to account for anything these two boys would do. I needed to control all of their acquaintances as well. Keep them in a controlled universe where I could throw in my variables and take what I needed to get the proper reaction. My first goal was to overtake the police and force Lin out of her role as leader. Instantiate the poor leader that is Qu, who would listen to my every word like a dog and treat Lin like she was nothing. Then I strangled Future Industries and stole the last thing that Asami held dear to her. I arranged the meeting with Steel and Bolin, indirectly, and I told Yakuza to blab everything to Lin when she refused to let him go to prison, that was through Sabo.. And the file on myself that I begged Chief Qu to keep unsecured, and the lead on Mount Ozai and Animal. Oh my sweet Animal, how perfectly you performed in this staged exercise. And even Sydney, who I allowed to escape and find Bolin, trying to herd her out of that specific tunnel where Bolin would be. Making sure the guards made it extra obvious she could escape and making it extra easy to do so. And Bolin, feeling lonely and desperate, would become attached to her in such a way that he'd be willing to risk his life here today to get her back. But I needed the rest of the group with him, so I sent my drones to be purposefully weak. To drive you out of the city to Asami then herd you back here like sheep. I'm just…that brilliant. I rolled out the red carpet for you by clearing my building of all the guards. I couldn't let their lives be endangered by you madmen. Since that horrible day I made that mistake, I realized Mako would be out there, trying to find out who was responsible for killing his parents, I have been arranging the ultimate obstacle course that would lead you all in one direction. If this doesn't prove that I can control everything, than I don't think anything else can. I have Clasma, I can return the ability to bend to people, create superhuman weapons, and now I see I can establish one's fate. Multiple fates. Tie them together and pull them towards me. Like a god. That's it. I've become a god! A man who has surpassed the limits of humanity and become something greater. The greatest of all entities. God-like. But in every universe, there is some randomness. Everything went according to my plan except…"
He walked toward the group. Korra and O-Ren were on their knees next to each other.
"Except for you two. The presence of the Avatar and…you," he looked at O-Ren. "I did not plan this. I did not see this, I'll admit. The arrival of Korra and him, that is something I can't explain.
"O-Ren. That is what you've been calling yourself, correct? Do you remember the name your real father gave you? Oh, you don't know your father? Of course you do. I saw you meet him…at least, I think that was you. The one who begins to get sick when he is around his own dad? That is a shame, but, you know, if someone doesn't want a son like you, there is really no better way than to make it so that this certain son can't keep his mind in order whenever he is around his father. You have been feeling rather…ill since he's gotten here?"
"Agh…since who?" O-Ren asked. The only person he could think of was Graft. Was there someone else?
Graft looked away from O-Ren and at Korra, ignoring his question. "The world is like this sometimes. I can't control every variable. I do not consider their presence as a failure. No, I am much too proud to admit that, especially today, for you all have come on a special occasion. More of a demonstration really."
Graft walked over to Asami. "The girl who has nothing left. How sad. No mother, no father, no company, no home, no lover, no friends. I cannot stand here and let you live like that. Why not give you something to compensate? Why not help bring you out of this?"
Asami tried to resist him but the bloodbending was too powerful. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the group. He then looked at Bolin. "The misery of this planet, you all are. I'll help fix that. Shiva was a great disappointment. In her old life, she was a victim. Lightning Bolt Zolt, the filthy firebending psycho, came across poor, helpless Sydney and did horrible things. Do not restrict your imagination. His action are for worse than what you can conjure up. She tried to suppress her memories but I cannot imagine that to be completely possible. Such a horrible thing to live with. I could not think of a better test subject. I could get what I wanted from her and even feel like a good person for helping her escape her miserable life. My substance would be able to overwrite her painful memories with new ones. Maybe happier ones. I combined her energy with a power that I thought could make her forget. A Clasma so powerful she would never be afraid again of her memories of Zolt. No, they wouldn't be Yakone's memories, only his waterbending would become hers. I think that to be the exchange that she deserves. She receives happy memories from the other Clasma I gathered, and power over the man who abused her. I would hope she could find Zolt again, to pay him back, but, as you can see, it did not result as I wanted. Meeting you, she didn't become what I expected. Something halted the process and her old self seemed to return to her after spending time with you, Bolin. I don't know what you did, but I won't be needing her anymore, so you can have her. Instead, I will make this trade." He looked down at Asami.
"What a caring person. I will give back to you the failed test subject you so love in exchange for this one that no one seems to care about. Calm down, Asami, I am not going to punish you. Instead I shall reward you. Such a treat! You will be my test subject for my newest concoction. The newest Clasma. The Siren Experiment. Can you guess the secret ingredient? She was one of the best in history in my opinion. Ah, time is up. The Azula Clasma!" He drew a syringe from his pocket with a glowing green substance. The syringe was labeled "S". He plunged the needle into Asami's throat.
"No!" Korra yelled. She didn't realize what had just happened, but she could now sense the poison coursing through Asami's veins. Mangling her memories and rewriting her personality. The Clasma was strong, it was taking effect in a nasty way. Asami began to tremble and sweat. She grew pale. Her pupils greatly reduced in size.
Graft pulled her away from the group. He walked to a glass platform opposite the room. Korra grew angry. The team could see it. Korra's veins began to pulsate through her arms and in her face. Her hands shook. She was growling and breathing hard. Feeling began to return to the fingertips, and soon the arms. The drones were having trouble containing her.
Korra could feel them. She was sifting through the pool of Clasma contained in the drones, finding the sink. She bended the energy, all the sources of bloodbending, and forced it into this sink, back to the Spirit World. The drones suddenly could not longer bloodbend.
Korra was on her feet in a flash and was nearly upon Graft when a glass door slid in front of her, separating her from Graft and Asami. She tried to cut at the door with her blades. The glass actually began to crack. The team easily took down the weakened drones.
In two cells in Graft's lab, Tenzin and Sydney awaited. They were freed. Lin embraced Tenzin.
"Thank god you are alright. Did he take anything from you?"
"No," Tenzin said, "I can't thank you enough for saving me, Lin. I am undoubtedly grateful to you."
"It's time you got out of this city and get the hell back to your family, Tenzin."
Likewise, Sydney ran to Bolin, crying, hoping he wasn't mad that she had involuntarily been part of this plot to bring the group to Graft. Bolin was not angry.
Graft eyed Korra.
"My, we are angry aren't we? You know, I'm surprised, these glass doors are nearly unbreakable and your swords have managed to crack them. Impressive. Also, whatever you have done to the drones was impressive as well." Graft said. "What makes her so important to you? What does she mean to you that you would be able to summon that kind of power now? I wonder. What purpose do you even have for being here? I have done nothing to you."
"I'm here to save us."
"Save whom?"
"Everyone. And everything. From you."
"Why is it I who is putting all that in danger? You do not understand. No one does, which is why I've had to draw you all here to take you out. I can't have dissenters like you, those who cannot understand such a complex mission like this. A mission which will have a few casualties, why can't you accept that when it is all for a greater good!"
"What greater good!?" Korra yelled.
"Bending! I am this world's savior, the man turned into god, but you try and stop me. You fail to realize the society I am trying to bring. Just like Solomon, you are. He pronounced the experiment a failure because of a few deaths, but sacrifice is needed. I am bringing back to this society the key to the next generation. I am giving it what it demands more than anything. Control over the power to bend. The ability to decide who deserves to bend, who can be a bender. Allowing the masses to turn into what they want to be. A firebender. A waterbender. Pro-bending is allowable to everyone. Civilization can thrive again because I have returned to it its most important concept. I have made bending a reality again, and now, we have complete control over it. The light of the planet is ours again because of me."
"But that is not worth it. Your idea is so twisted. We do not place the importance of bending above all else. That is not our highest value in society…" or at least, it shouldn't be.
"My experiments prove you wrong, Avatar. My experiments have shown me that humans are willing to give up everything, even their sanities, for this kind of power."
"But you are one of those. You killed Solomon for power. You are not different!"
"No on in this world is different. Bending supersedes human relationships."
Korra didn't want to listen to him. She wanted to argue with him. But power. Bending. It all seemed to be what people valued. She couldn't admit that Graft was right. She looked at Asami from the other side of the glass door. She was losing her grip on her identity quickly. The process wasn't very pretty to watch. Her breathing and heartbeat were irregular. Korra couldn't bear to think of her. She was hoping Asami would not forget the way she felt for Korra. Korra started to panic. Grow anxious. Tears streamed down her face as she watched her object of affection quickly turn into a different person.
"I can see the change in your eyes," Graft said. "It would be my pleasure to let you go, but your existence is a threat to my mission. You see what you are dealing with, and now I must go. And Asami is coming with me." He turned behind him and walked toward stairs that led out of sight to his office. "Do not bother running. Sen is already on his way with an army of drones. They will be here within seconds. Try stopping them, Korra."
Korra realized strange about what Graft had said. Her team had now joined her at the glass door. Lin was the first to break the news to Graft.
"Sen is dead," Lin stated.
Graft turned to them, furious. "You've killed Sen? I told him to hide!"
"No…" Korra said, wondering why this was surprising to him, wondering if this was still part of his plan. "He was already dead when we arrived."
Graft looked shocked. He stared into space for a few seconds, losing track of his thoughts. He growled and continued upstairs bringing Asami with him. Korra tried to cut the glass down but it was an extremely strong material. She soon became tired and looked behind her to ready herself for whatever guards still lived in this building and would come at Graft's demand.
No one arrived. It was completely silent except for the faint footsteps from Graft. He was just up the stairs and down the hallway when he reached his office and the team heard a gasp in the distance.
Graft's voice echoed down the hallways and into the lab. "What is going on here? Who are…what? No. It is impossible. It can't be!"
Korra suddenly had the feeling overcome her again: she sensed the present of a vast amount of Clasma. But she knew it was not artificial. It was pure. It was the most she had ever felt. She could not possibly look into it. No other bender she had ever encountered contained a flow of cosmic energy like this. Not even herself.
"Stay back!" Graft yelled. It sounded horrifying. Whatever he was yelling at, he was truly scared. It wasn't a fake yell. Korra could feel his heart beating. "No! No! You cannot be here! It's impossible! AGhh!" suddenly she no longer felt his heart. Graft's last scream was also his last breath. It was a haunting scream. The team stood in horror as they waiting for something to come down the stairs. Korra was hoping it would be Asami.
The glass door slid open. Korra led the team up the stairs to Graft's office. When they enterd, Graft stood before them, watching them. Asami sat on the ground, appearing as if she had seen a ghost.